Destined to Pray
by T. Mad Hatter
Summary: This is your last chance. Your only chance. Written after I read the 6th book. Contains some spoilers. Read and review, please tell me what you think.


_**Author's Note**__: This story is very complicated to explain and I wrote more for myself than anything. I'm experiencing some hard things right now, death and otherwise, so I wrote it to metaphorically voice some of the problems I'm handling. I don't expect any of you to understand, and I'm really sorry that I can't explain it further. If you want to know about the characters, the ones you don't know are mostly mentioned in a few of my past stories. Beyond that, please just accept this one-shot for what it's worth. And please review, to tell me what you think. Thanks. – T.M. Hatter_

_I will never make sense of it again, as I never intended to. This is the only thing I've ever been sure of in my entire life, Katty, so believe me when I say this: there is nothing you can do to stop me._

The words echoed in her brain hollowingly. But that was just it...they were only words. Powerful ones, but she had begun to lose her respect for power and the comprised sounds floating inside of her head were...empty. Static. They began to ring in impatience towards the disregard of urgency, but it didn't matter anymore. This seemed to be the end of the road. And that meant she no longer had time for purpose.

_But you _**_can't_**_ do this! You can't! You have people that love you! Fred loves you, Sev loves you, I love--_

She had flinched at the mention of his name. Not after what he had done. Not after what she was going to do. It meant suicide - she had accepted that. But...after what seemed an eternity in Azkaban, and then being freed by the Master she had sacrificed so much to mislead...none of it seemed worth it now. And she had to wonder if Severus had ever loved her, if this all had been some very sick joke. Or maybe he had a plan. Maybe Dumbledore wasn't dead. She played these out in a whimsical set of delusions, accompanied by her growing insanity and ne'er tired memories of loved ones, of loving.

_Love is no longer a factor._

_Please, be reasonable!_

_I've been nothing but._

_Liz...please...I don't want anything bad to happen to you..._

The worst was yet to come. She merely had to sit back and wait for the Devil to arrive on her doorstep.

_We can help you._

It had been a preposterous idea. Hundreds dead under her belt - the Minister let it scrape by, because they had been the ones that ordered her to do so - but everything had changed now that Dumbledore was...

Her thoughts broke. And for once in a long time, she felt very small.

There wasn't a Hogwarts to go back to. There wasn't a future left to save. She had returned to her 6th year with the hopes that she would pick up where she left off and slowly learn what it meant to be human again. But Sirius was dead and Fred was gone and Sev was...

She had begun to wonder if Sirius was been the only dead one.

This was the path she was destined to, whether she liked it or not. If her father had been alive, he would have told her the very same thing. Either because of coincidence or consequence, some people were simply set to complete certain tasks. Harry Potter was destined to kill the Dark Lord; Liz Whitney was going repay her retribution on those that had betrayed her, and finally - _finally - _make things right.

There was no chance for her now. She wondered, bitterly, if there ever had been. For Liz, that's what hurt the most - more than the dead bodies, the empty corridors, the memories and all that _guilt_ - it was the fact that she had never really been given a chance.

For better or for worse, this was just how it was going to be.

And there lay her destiny, outstretched over a dank cemetery and thousand mysteries afterward. Only closing her ever-piercing eyes for a brief second, she took a deep breath. Liz was ready to die, because this time she knew she was going to win. She was going to Hell and she was taking the world down with her.

"All right, Severus, say your prayers."


End file.
